Ajimobi, others solicit FDI to Nigeria

CALLS for foreign direct investment in Nigeria re-echoed recently as a cross-section of experts, impressed on prospective investors abroad, the need to invest in the country’s economy.

The event was at the Greater London Business Conference on Nigeria, organised by the Nigerian London Business Forum (NLBF), in London, the United Kingdom.

Speaking at the forum, Oyo State governor Senator Abiola Ajimobi said many states across the federation have huge potentials waiting to be tapped.

Ajimobi, who addressed a huge gathering of business leaders from the UK and Nigeria, as well as government officials and chamber of commerce executives, said Oyo State currently has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.3bn, a population of 7m and a literacy rate of 62.6% and is striving to improve productivity to catch up with consumption.

He added: “Oyo State is bigger than Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, Belgium and Israel in terms of population but our GDP is only $2.3bn but the annual growth rate is 14%. If you look across the Mint countries, Nigeria has the highest illiteracy rates and the highest unemployment rates but we are working to address all these problems.

“In health for instance, when we assumed office there were only 120 doctors in Oyo State but over three years, we have increased this number to 620. We are also working hard on housing. As by our estimates we need 259,000 housing units between now and 2020 but, we have started off with the first 5,000 units.”

Upbeat that his administration will succeed in providing the necessary social amenities and an enabling environment for economic growth, Ajimobi said his administration is always on the lookout for private sector partners to work with.

“We have companies partnering with us to build houses and among them are Spanish, US and indigenous firms building houses for low, middle and high income earners. In agriculture too, we are looking for partners as the Food and Agricultural Organisation has recommended that there be two tractors per hectare of land but at the moment, we have achieved less than that, compared with Asian countries that have reached 15%.

“We also found out that as much as 70% of our agricultural produce was going to waste as it was not getting to market, so there is an opportunity in this sector for interested investors. In agriculture, I am confident that we can get output to match 75% of consumption within the next five years if my administration is returned to office for another four-year term next year.”

Other areas the governor said his administration is working hard on is business registration, in a bid to ensure that private sector operators willing to operate in Oyo State can get their business registered within 48 hours.

He added that to encourage such investors, the government is giving them all sorts of incentives such as 30% tax concessions for five years.

NLBF Director Dr Chris Onalo, who received outstanding ovation for his unrelenting effort at deepening bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, added that he is confident that the conference will aid the process of facilitating commerce between Nigeria and the UK. He added that the organisers had been working on the conference for five months being the third in series, and found that there was a need to enhance existing structures and remove hurdles capable of frustrating the flow of trade and investment between the two countries.

Dr Onalo said: “We are here to work with the two countries who believe they can do the best to continue to trade and collaborate in business. For instance, it was decided that there should be a fast visa application process for business men and women who are members of any credible registered local chambers of commerce and trade associations in the two countries.

Echoing similar sentiments, Hassan Mohammed Hassan, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment at the Nigerian High Commission in the UK, who stood in for the High Commissioner Dr Dalhatu Tafida, added that the Nigerian government remains committed to drastically increasing the volume of trade between the two countries.

Hassan said: “In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan and Prime Minister David Cameron decided to double trade between both countries to £8bn. Between November 2011 and now, almost 85% of that has been attained, especially in the areas of oil and gas and we are trying to come up with another projection.

“I can assure you that we shall be working to do more to achieve the new target that will be projected;” so, we want the UK and European Union to work with us and not push Nigeria aside. At the moment, Nigeria has a GDP of over $500bn and an annual growth rate of about 7%, with most of it coming from activities which are private sector facilitated.”

Other delegates like Mrs Mary Akpobome, Executive Director, Heritage Bank who stood in for the bank’s CEO, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, spoke about the huge potential that exists in Nigerian business.

Mrs Akpobome added that her bank is focusing its energy on small and medium enterprises (SME’s) funding as it is a very important sector of the economy which accounts for 50% of global employment.

“SMEs are a sector in Nigeria that has not attracted the level of support it should have got. About 32.4m Nigerians are employed in the sector and we at Heritage Bank found out that SMEs is a sector where you can offer significant support if you de-risk it,” she said..

Expatiating, she said: “A lot of the players in the sector have different challenges of which finance is a major one but by working with them, we have got to a stage whereby 60% to 70% of our business is with SMEs. We started out by putting together an SME clinic and we sit down with people to understand their structure to find out if they need loans or not.”

Raphael Channer, an international trade advisor at the UK Trade and Investment, said British exports currently total £500n and the target is to double this to £1trn by 2020 with increased sales to markets like Nigeria. He added that this will mean the number of companies increasing from the current ratio of one in four firms to one in five.

Tayo Omideji, the head of strategy at Nigerian Export Import Bank (Nexim), one of the top sponsors of the conference added that his bank’s mandate is to diversify the Nigerian export market, as at the moment, 95% of government revenue comes from oil. He added that Nexim does this by providing credit assistance to exporters.

Mr Omideji added: “Africa only accounts for 3% of world trade despite accounting for 15% of the global population. Also, inter-regional trade within Africa is only between 12% and 15% compared with 70% in Europe, which is why we are trying to develop the African continent so people who come to do business in Nigeria will be able to deal with 1bn Africans.”

Jennifer Obaseki of UK law firm, Obaseki Solicitors, added that her company works with people seeking business visas to travel and advised anyone travelling for a conference to ensure they have the proper documentation before applying for their visa. She added that her company also works with companies looking to expand into other markets other than Nigeria and the UK.